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The news m this publica
tion IS released lor the press on
receipt.
THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA
NEWS LETTER
Published weekly by the
University of North Carolina
for its Bureau of Extension.
MARCH 17, 1920
CHAPEL HHL, N. G.
VOL. VI, NO. 17
Krfiiorial Boarri ■ Hi. C. Branson, L. B. Wil.son, E. W. Kniglit, D. D. Carroll, J, B. Bullitt.
Entered as seoond-olaas matter November 14, J9U, at the Postoffloe at Chapel Hill, N, C., under the act of August 24,1912
A CHILD WELFARE SESSION
rrgine a better understanding of JJorth
Carolina’s new welfare laws ui their rela
tion to the well being of Carolina chil
dren, a conimittee of the Xnrth Carolina
elnh connected with Governor Birketi’s
reconstruction commission made its re
port in Gerrard Mall Moirdav nii>ht. The
special committee consists of T. J. Braw
ley of Gastonia, chairman; W. II. Bob
bitt, of Statesville, and C. T. Boyd, of
Gastonia.
Mr. Brawley contended that the (level-
(.'tpmerit of factories in i^orth Carolina is
irij large part responsible foroiir |)robii-ms
of cliiht welfare, especially in iho.se cases
where the mother is compelled to work
in the factory. Child labor in country
areas is also a neglected problem of vital
sort, said he. lie told the chib tliat the
staf}' specialists of the Atlanta Red Cross
heartquarter.s wontd he at the University
fthis summer to train oiir county superin
tendents of public welfare.
Mr. Boyd urged tlie establishment of
more schools for the 7,500 feeble-minded
children of the state. At pn^sent the
Caswell Training School lias room for
fewer than 250. As for the feeble-minded
children of our negroes, we liave not yet
made any provision for them. He also
recotnmendtd that the state set a.'-ido a
fund for luothets’ iiensions for deserving,
capable mothers wtio are otherwise till
able to support their children. He de
clared that anotlier child-placing agency
like the twie av Greensboro should be es
tablished on a fifty-fifty basis of state and
private funds. . ‘
Mr. Bobbitt showed the need for deten
tion homes, so that children in iho care of
our juvenile courts would not have to he
placed in jails with hardened criminals.
The .Tackson Training School shoujd be
greatly enlarged, he declared, because
there are 200 boys on the waiting list and
the capacity of the school is only TOO. At
least two other such schools should be
established in the state. He ended his
report by urging that the stale erect more
training schools for the delinquent, de
fective, and detiendent children of both
races.—Greensboro Mew&
ation from farm to city cannot be cured
and stopped arbitrarily or precipitately,
but it can be checked. The boys and
girls who have already come to the cities
cannot be influenced to go back to the
country, but the future boys and virls
can be kept from coming into the cities
by making life more attractive for them
where they are now, by improving th^
farm, by adding to the comforts of the
farm iiome, by installing the modern fa
cilities which the standards of the times
demand and by otherwise satisfying tlieni
with their countryside surroundings.
And tins is an economic step that must
be taken. AInch of the present-day dis
locations are due to the one-sidedness of
production as compared with consump
tion. In this very county, for instance,
there has been such an exodus from the
fields that Charlotte consumers are eating
tnnnendously more than Mecklenburg
produi er.-( can possibly supply us witli.
There are productive fields in the county
that cannot be utilized, vast stretches of
rich soil that he idle because there is no
body to work-tV'em, great plantations, in
some iM8tan*es,that are being only par
tially cithivated because of scarcity of la
bor, and such is the case all over the
country.
Lopsided I ife
The population of the Cities has been
CHILDREN
David Starr .Iordan
There is nothing in the world so im-
_portant as little children; nothing so
interesting. If you wish to go in for
philanthropy, if ever you wish );o be
of any use in the world, do something
for little children. If ever you yearn
to be truly wise, study children.
We can dress the sore, bandage the
wound, imprison the criminal, heal
the sick and bury the dead, bnt there
is always a chance tliat we can save
the child. If the great army of phil
anthropists ever exterminate sin and
pestilence, ever work out the race’s
salvation, it will be because a little
child has Jed them.
COUNTRY HOME CONVENIENCES
LETTER SERIES No. 3
Personal Income Taxes
There are two and a half million peo
ple in North Carolina, bnt the number
that paid federal taxes on personal in
comes and excess profits was very small.
In all the state there were only 22,977
people who had taxable income.^ beyond
the exemptions allowed by law-^1000
for unmarried persons, and $2000 for
heads of families.
There were several hundred thousand
The University Extension Division of
Country Home Comforts and Conven
iences has thus fs^r answered calls from
sixty six individuals or communities for
assistance in selecting and installing elec
tric lighting systems, for developing small
water powers for operating these systems,
and for water supply and rural tele
phones. Twenty-four of these 'calls were
for advice in developing small water
powers; eleven of the calls were asking
for assistance in improving the water
supply; twenty-seven were for aid in
selecting farm lighting sets and laying
out the most economical system of wir
ing; three were for rural telephone sys
tems; and one for country home plans.
From Avery to Carteret
The following table showing the dis
tribution of these projects over thirty five
counties indicates how extensive a field
has been served by the Division.
Davie...
Duplin ..
Durham.
Forsyth..
Gaston ..
Halifax .
wage earners, salaried people, farmers
multiplied at the expense of a depletion ' and merchants, single and married, whose
on tlie farms and we have grown as con- gross itu'-ofites were more than $1000—
suiners out of alt proportion to our re- $2000 a year; but when the legal dediic-
sonrees as producers. The important tions and allowances of all sorts were
thing 'to do, therefore, is to check this counted only a bare handful of the (leo-
tendency and stop this lopsitiedness by pie in North t’arolina had any net in-
making life'more attractive in tlie conn- comes to pay federal taxes on.
try, by reducing the iiroblem of isolatioiij^ M’e helped a tialf dozen of onr wealth-
ami unrelieved loneliness which prevails i iest I'arn erstofill out their federal iricome
in the rural vicinities and by such a I fax sheets, hut wtien we summed up the
tran.slation of all surroundings of life on ' allowances for (iependents. and for neces-
the farm that tlie temptation which comes
to boys and girls and wliole families to
desert these rich, productive centers will
Oonnty ■ Projects
Alamance 4
Alexander 1
Avery 2
Bertie 4
Buncombe 5
Burke 1
Oaldwell .. 11
Carteret .1
Caswell ' .... 2
Qhatham 1
Davidson 1
County
Harnett
Haywood
Johiston
Mecklenburg..
Montgomery...
Northampton ..
Orange
Person . ,
I’itt
Rockingham
Rowan ....
Projects
1
.... 1 Richmond 2
... 1 Sampson 1
... 1 Transylvania ... 2
1 Wake 2
... 1 Wayne 1
... 1 Wilkes 1
Yadkin 2
White Coal Being Wasted
Field- Engineer, W. C.Walke, spent
most of the month of January in Cald
well and Buncombe counties investigat
ing small waterpower sites. Some of these
sites were owned by individual farmers
who had in some cases as much as ten to
fifteen horsepower running to waste right
under their noses and didn’t know it.
Estimating this power at only $30 a horse
power-year, it means that these individ
uals are losing from three to four hun
dred dollars a year that might be saved
and put to work.
Ttiis amount of white coal as water
is called, if utilized in a factory, would
mean a saving of more than one hundred
tons of coal in a year. Any good bti.siness
man would jump''at the opportunity to
save this much fuel. For the farmer,
however, it means increased production
with less effort, and what is more, it means
that he can have ail of the comforts and
convenienctes of the town and city in his
home.—P. H. D.
THE BIGGEST THING YET
T,he proposition announced by tlie pro
gressive authorities of tlie University of
.North Carolina by wliich a corps of ex
perts will undertake to acivise with tlie
rural people of the state in the matter of
hnme and farm improvements loi.iks tons
to be about one of the biggest things
(Hit forth at’ tlie University in a long
lime. The plan is to advise and counsel
with the country people of tlie slate who'
want better homes, improved yards, bet
ter facilities and more modern farm
plants, offering advice, bluejirint-i. cliarts
and other essential lielps, free of charge.
.Advice will be given abontthe installation
of modern facilities, power plants, tele-
(ihone systems, improvements in homes,
and the introduction of the city’s com
forts into the homes of the countryside.
Our estimate of the importance of such
an undertaking is based upon the very
patent fact that the state must do some
thing immediately to rejuvenate its rural-
side. It is all foolishness to talk about
institiitrng what has been called the
back-to-the-farm movement. That tiling
is never going to happen. Few hoys or
girls who have come from the country in
to the city and grown accustomed to the
social advantages and the living comforts
of the city are ever going back to the
countryside again. They are making too
much money in the city in the first place;
they are enjoying themselves too much,
in the second place, and they are alto
gether so pleased with the change they
have made that it is the purest sort of
folly to talk of ever converting them again
to the theory that the countryside is the
best place in the world for them. They
will argue with you about that and win
tlie argument every time, so far as they
are individually concerned.
Better Country Homes
What can be done, however—and this
•is the crux of the situation—is to endeav
or right now txi make the countryside so
much like the city, to improve the tone
of country life, to add to country homes
so many city advantagi^s, that the temp
tation which comes to the boys and girls
to remove from the ruralside to the city
will be taken away. ‘ The inflow of popii-
be relieved.
TVe hope tlie people of Nortli Carolina
will appreciate what the cunimunity
builders at Chapel Hill have taken tip.
TIjey intend to do something for the ru
ral population of the state tiiat this pop
ulation itself miglit never do witliont cap
able leadership. They are ofl'ering to
save farm owners money whicti would
otherwise go into experiments or hap
hazard arrangements. Tfiey are propos
ing to rehabilitate tlie lortunes of the
country people of tliis Commonwealth l>y
an intense application of their theoretical
knowledge to the practical problems of
the rural districts and in this worthy and
inexpressibly important undertaking,
they deserve the gratitude and the coop
eration of tliose they intend to lielp.—
Charlotte News.
OUR FEDERAL INCOME TAXES
The federal income taxes paid in Nortli
Caroliiiain 1917 amounted to $23,667,705.
Which is nearly four million dollars more
than all local taxes of all sorts—town,
county, and state—paid by all the tax
payers of the state the same year.
Tliis Jiuge total of federal income taxes
in North Carolina was paid as follows:
Corporations, 3986in number $20,353,098
Persons, 10,970 wit^i net taxable
incomes of $2000 and over... .2,651,504
Partnerships, 168 in number Y. .'663,103
Corporation Taxes
Nearly nine-tenths of all the federal
income taxes of North Carolina were paid
by corporate businesses, 3986 in number.
These corporations reported a total gross
income of nearly 700 million dollars, but
they paid income and excess profifi^ tax®
on only 92 million dollars, in ronntl nnm-
bers. Which is to say, their'iet taxable
income was around a seventh of their
gross income. The exemptions, deduc
tions, and allowances of all sorts under
the law amounted toxsix-sevenths of their
gross income. Eleven hundred sixty-
nine or more than a fifth of all our re
porting corporations had no net taxable
incomes in 1917 and therefore paid no
federal income taxes.
The federal income taxes paid by our
corporations in 1917 were as follows:
1136 Manufactories .$16,634,407
1508 Merchandise concerns 2,227,345
305 Transportation companies 1,004,291
762 Financial corporations 332,201
49 Construction companies 52,237
134 Personal service concerns. .. .41,058
79 Agricultural corporations . .. .35,882
13 Mines and quarries 25,676
These totals, we may say, do not in
clude the 76 million dollars of stamp tax
es on tobacco factory products in North
Carolina.
g ry far n expen-'es, inve.o'ment in tools,
inoiiey siient for liired help, feed, and
repairs on Imildings, fnr fences, wagons,
farm machinery, horseshoeing, insurance
on liariis and |ionses, depreciation due to
wear and tear on every riling used for
larin purposes, losses from fire, flooii,
and storm, and so on and on—not one nf
them had any income surplus to pay fed
eral taxeson. i
The fact is very fe\y farmers and wage- |
ean ers paid any federal income taxes in |
1917 either in North I larolina or any o' her :
state. The country over the farmers who '
were rich enougli to pay federal taxes on 1
incomes were only one in every 400. At ;
tills rate only 110 fanners paid sucli tax
es in North Carolina in 1917.
Who Pays Income Taxes
Of the 23,000 people in North Carolina
who paid personal income taxes into the
AVasliiiigton treasury in 1917, by far the
largest class was' composed of single per
sons with incomes between $1000 and
$2000. They numbered 9,714 or nearly
one-half of all the federal income taxpay
ers of the state. AVliat tliey paid after
exemptions, dednetions, and allowances
were counted was .“O little that the official
bullet™ of the federal treasury does, not
render any account of it at all in' any
state. The number of these small tax
payers is stated in each state, hut nothing
more.
The next largest class of federal income
taxpayers was composed of those with
net incomes between $2000 and $3000.
They numbered only 5785 in the entire
state, and two fifths of these paid nothing
because of exemptions, dednetions. and
allowances. The rest, 3395 in number,
paid $39,000 all told, an average of about
ten dollars apiece.
Our Well-to-do and Rich
The table of federal income taxpayers
by classes appears in another colninn in
tills issii^ A glance through it discloses
some siOTificant facts, as follows:
1. A little more than nine tenths of all
o'lr federal taxes on personal incomes in
1917 were paid by 6975 people, or less
than a third of all those reporting net in
comes beyond the exemptions allowed.
2. More than half our federal personal
income taxes were paid by 97 taxpayers—
the very rich people with net incomes of
$40,000 a year and more.
3 Onr three richest men paid $442,795,
which is more than all the taxes paid by,
the 9741 people with net incomes between
$2000 anil .$10,000 a year.
4. Our richest man with a net income
approaching a million dollars a year,
paid nearly as much as tlie 8000 people
with net incomes below $6000 a year. His
federal income tax amounted to some
$500 a day including Sundays.
The simple fact is that the rich pay
taxes—the bulk of the taxes, both local
arid federal. And the most hopeful thing
in North Carolina is the cheerfulness with
which they pay it. So far as v s know,
only one rich man in the entire state
whimpered about taxes during the hard
days of the war.
We have lived long enough to observe
that most of the fuss about taxes is,made
by people whose taxes are a bagatelle or
nothing at all. And these are the multi
tudes who are most excited by tax dis
cussions of any sort whatsoever They
liave least at stake and most to gain in
tax reforms; bnt usually they offer the
greatest obstacle to the solution of tax
puzzles in democratic conmiiinities.
Carolina Millionaires
We had 949 men in North Carolina in
1917 with net incomes of $10,000 or more.
The gross incomes of these taxi»ayers in
the main would rim around $50,000 each;
which is five percent of a million dollars
of productive property _
It takes one’s breath to think of it.
There are 70 people in tlie state with
net incomes of $50,000 a year and over—-
not gross but net inc«nies, mind you.
These taxpayers are millionaires and
mnlti-miliioiiaires many times over.
However, the official definition of a
millionaire is a person witli a net income
of $100,000 or more. On tliis basis, we
had 24 millionaires in North Carolina in
1917, at»d only three sonthe^rn states had
more—Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas
in the order named.
The net income of our richest man was
between $750,000 and $1,000,000 in 1917.
He is ten times a millionaire and
more. •
This brief study of federal incom tax
payers is based on The Statistics of In
come, a bnlletin issued the other day by
the United States Internal Revenue Bu
reau of the Federal Treasury. It throws
the wealth of North Carolina into the
spotlight. It has at last become perfectly
clear that the time is past forever when
any competently informed person can
truthfully say that North Carolina is a
poverty stricken state.
Wealth and Welfare
The development of a community or a
commonwealth depends upon two things;
(1) uponTts wealth, and (2) upon its wil
lingness to convert its wealth into weal.
Commonwealth ought to mean common
weal. The two are one or ought to be, and
they could be in North Carolina if only the
democratic mind were not so easily mud
dled by two-penny philosophies. The
vast mnltitiide at the bottom of the col
umn—the small taxpayers and the non-
taxpayer.s—i.s its own worst enemy in this
state and every other at this time and
every other time in recorded history from
Micah’s time until now. Its deadliest
foes are those of its own household.
There is really only one obstacle to tax
reforms in North Carolina, and it lies in the
clumsy thinking of uninformed minds—
in the economic illiteracy that Mr Van-
derlip rightly says is threatening the en
tire world today.
FEDERAL PERSONAL INCOME TAXPAYERS
IN NORTH CAROLINA, BY CLASSES, IN 1917
Based on Statistics of Income, Internal Revenue Bureau,
S. H. ilobbs, Jr., University of North Carolina
1919
Taxpayers
Income Classes
Total Incomes
Taxes Paid
1,476
$' 2,000 to $
2,500
$3,358,440
$ 15,093
1,919
2,500 |to
3,000.
5,272,001
24,083
2,585
3,0b0 to
4,000
8,880,493
54,102
1,340.^. .>.
4,000 to
5,000
5,960,135
56,764
782
5,000 to
6,000
4,269,536
55,600
523
6,000 to
, 7,000
3,368,551
57,687
345
7,000 to
8,000
2,572,657
53,797
253
8,000 to
9,000
2,145,535
56,847
198
9,000 to ^ 10,000
• 1,870,374
52,366
126
10,000 to
11,000
1,309,213
42,321'
104
11,000 to
12,000
1,189,053
38,691
89
12,000 to
13,000
1,111,200
38,767
62
' 13,000 to
14,000
835,019
35,047
58
14,000 to
15,000
839,963
34,272
168
15,000 to
20,000
2,896,153
115,966
101
20,000 to
25,000
2,248,283
117,549
, 56
25,000 to
30,000
1,539,488
100,210
88
30,000 to
40,000
2,995,243
193,624
27
40,000 to
50,000
1,220,781
98,517
17
50,000 to
60,000
915,905
48,146
8
60,000 to
70,000
502,270
35,914
8
70,000 to
_ 80,000
594,488
/6,081
11
80,000 to
90,000
930,561
105,905
' 2
90,000 to
100,000
190,097 '
18,707
12
100,000 to
150,000
1,405,391
173,327
2. . . .>
150,000 to
200,000
335,142
. 75,552
5
200,000 to
- 250,000
1,153,477
315,904
2
250,000 to
300,000
569,7.34
117,870
1
300,000 to
400,000
137,436
1
400,000 to
500,000
109 536
1
750,000 to
1,000,000
195,823
10,370.......